1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fault tracing system and method for remote maintenance, and more particularly, to a fault tracing system and method for remote maintenance capable of accurately and effectively tracing a fault that has occurred in a home network using home network resource information and relationship information among resources for the purpose of remote maintenance in a home/building network environment.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, a home network indicates a network in which various digital appliances are connected with each other such that a user can enjoy convenient, safe and economical everyday services any time in or outside the home. Refrigerators, washing machines, etc. referred to as white goods, are gradually being digitalized with the development of digital signal processing technology, and new information appliances have emerged as home appliance operating system and high-speed multimedia communication technologies have been integrated into digital appliances, resulting in the development of the home network.
Most existing technologies for a method of diagnosing and handling a fault of various electronic devices and network equipment present in a house or building, or software operating in them, find a fault by analyzing a system log or error messages.
For example, US Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-0118710 relates to a computer program for detecting failure of a network including a plurality of transmitting devices, by tracing data flows of the transmitting devices on the basis of physical topologies of the transmitting devices corresponding to the network, and discloses a virtual transmitting device composing step of composing a group of transmitting devices adjacent to one another, the data flows of which have failed to be obtained, as one virtual transmitting device, and a physical topology replacement step of replacing physical topologies of the group of transmitting devices adjacent to one another, the data flow rates of which have failed to be obtained, among the physical topologies with a physical topology of the composed virtual transmitting device.
The related art as mentioned above has some problems. As the size of a system log or messages to be analyzed increases, overhead drastically increases. Also, when the same error is repeatedly caused by several components relating to a single fault, it is difficult to systematically trace the fault.
Furthermore, when a fault has occurred in a home/building network environment, the related art involves a user accurately recalling and describing the situation in which the fault has occurred, and an expert or engineer visiting the home or building in person, which is inconvenient and causes a delay in detection and diagnosis of the fault.